Stay ConnectedFeaturing analysis and discourse by hosts Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Dr. Stephanie Murphy, Adam B. Levine, and Jonathan Mohan, episodes feature friendly, in-depth discussions and even-handed interviews.
Speaking of Bitcoin (formerly known as Let’s Talk Bitcoin!) is the longest-running English language talk show on the ideas, people and projects surrounding the Bitcoin movement and Cryptocurrency phenomenon.
Copyright: © Adam B. Levine
This is part two (a bonus episode) of last weeks discussion of "cryptoization" and why the IMF is utterly terrified of it going mainstream.
The IMF has outlined yet another set of concerns it holds about crypto. Is crypto really the problem, or is the IMF just afraid of the things it cannot control?
Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Jonathan Mohan and Andreas M. Antonopoulos as they dissect the October global financial stability report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) subtitled “COVID-19, Crypto and Climate: Navigating Challenging Transitions.” An entire chapter of the report is dedicated to destabilization factors crypto poses, at least as identified by the IMF. It even coined a new term, “cryptoization,” to refer to the introduction and/or substitution of crypto in emerging markets.
Although worries of supply shocks, supply chain inflation and stagflation fill headlines, the IMF placed crypto in the top three stability concerns. Is the organization gearing up to poise crypto as the scapegoat in case of an oncoming financial crisis?
Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show
Today’s show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine, with music by Gurtybeats.com. Our episode art is a photograph by Giorgio Trovato/Unsplash recreated by Speaking of Bitcoin
Any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show
Why did a joke cryptocurrency with zero ambition find massive success, yet a calculated military campaign with plenty of ambition turned into a massive failure? With the right leverage, ten men can fight like one hundred, and one coin can spend like a million.
(Was planning to do a bonus episode on Sunday but ran out of time, sorry!)
Today’s show was written, performed and edited by George Frankly with additional production support from Adam B. Levine. Our episode art was created by Speaking of Bitcoin
Any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show
This time on Speaking of Bitcoin, join hosts Stephanie Murphy, Jonathan Mohan and Adam B. Levine for a look at bitcoin tipping through the ages. From the dogecoin-like fun and fervor of the early days to the game-changing bridges that first brought it to twitter, the hosts dig into Youtube, Changetip, TechCrunch and more.
But what happened to tipping? What was once the raison d'être of the early cryptocurrency experience faded away, as what was thought of as money turned out to be gold: Too precious to just toss around... Or was it?
In this episode we dig into the thought, experience and philosophy behind bitcoin tipping, how it changed and finally whether it's on the uptrend yet again.
Links from this episode:
Youtube is Broken - Rethinking Content Monetization with Bitcoin (2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4tgNi5gle0
Kickstarter Coins - TechCrunch (2014)
https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/15/kickstarter-coins-2/
Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show
Today's show featured Adam B. Levine, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan. This episode was edited by Jonas, with music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats.
Our episode art is from a photo by Keszthelyi Timi/Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin.
Blockchain technology presents opportunities for dissonant opinions, fractionalization and internal reform unmatched in the fiat world.
Join hosts Jonathan Mohan, Stephanie Murphy and Andreas M. Antonopoulos as they dissect “Voice and Exit,” or the power and necessity of being able to impact a system, whether financial, social or governmental, and if necessary, leave altogether. “Voice and Exit” was popularized by Balaji Srinivasan in 2013, where Srinivasan outlined how voice is attempting to change a system from within, while exit is leaving to create a new one.
Crypto has provided new methods to exercise voice and exit. Forks, software or protocol changes that users can choose to upgrade to, are an example of exit inherent to blockchain technology. Forks give the community a chance to decide whether to continue with the upgrade or remain in the old rules; forks have created spin-off currencies like Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.
As opportunities for voice and exit seem to be gradually disappearing, can crypto help those who need them most?
Image credit: Wesley Tingey/Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin
In the early days of Bitcoin, a few idealistic individuals attempted to live entirely on the bitcoin currency. Nine years and an abundance of technological developments later, is an entirely closed-loop bitcoin economy possible, or even useful?
Join hosts Jonathan Mohan, Stephanie Murphy and Andreas M. Antonopoulos as they reflect on bitcoin’s evolution as a currency and commodity. In the early days, an era of retail adoption as merchants began to accept bitcoin from their customers seemed to point to a bright future for daily bitcoin use. The 2013 IRS addendum treating bitcoin as a commodity, rather than as a foreign currency, quickly made transactions a burden with onerous tax reporting requirements, dimming that retail bitcoin future.
In the time since, the crypto community has adopted a HODL mindset. Why spend bitcoin if it’s disinflationary in nature and will bring you more value in the future? Those idealistic individuals' dreams of bitcoin as a daily currency may no longer align with bitcoin's maturation.
Developments in layer 2 technology, like the Lightning Network, have allowed experiments in bitcoin as legal tender to be not only a possibility, but a pragmatic choice for governments like El Salvador’s. With news of Ukraine considering following in El Salvador’s footsteps, will clusters of closed-loop bitcoin life bloom around the world?
Do you have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show
Today's show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan. This episode was edited by Jonas, with music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats. Our album art is based off a photo by Ishan_@seefromthesky on Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin
No episode again today but we've got two in editing now for next week.
Have a good weekend!
El Salvador’s decision to make bitcoin legal tender shocked the world. Earlier this week the rapidly-developed and adopted bitcoin law went live, kicking off what seems primed to be an era of accelerated change unlike anything seen in our lifetimes.
Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Stephanie Murphy for a quick three part discussion on the launch challenges, implications and listener comments from our previous show on the topic.
First, the launch: It was messy, but it happened. Alex Gladstein had an insightful twitter thread in the days leading up to it (https://twitter.com/gladstein/status/1434636006632747009). Matt Ahlborg dug into the day-1 government issued wallet and found a mixed bag, extra controls on the money given out at launch but a fairly robust technological package including native SegWit support and a functional lightning network integration (https://twitter.com/MattAhlborg/status/1435307724774989829)
Second, the implications: This path towards adoption was not what we expected. What El Salvador's move to use bitcoin directly suggests is that dollarized nations, or those who use another countries currency and in doing so become subject to their monetary policy decisions, may prefer bitcoin's non-monetary policy to either domestic or imported control. That's in sharp contrast to nations like India, China and the US who use their currencies and controls over it to accomplish policy goals. These powerful players see central bank digital currencies as a way to supercharge their monetary policy compared to their influence today over physical banknotes.
And finally, the local perspective: We had two listeners write in with corrections to our prior episode (We were incorrect about the reason why El Salvador "dollarized" their economy in 2000, it was billed as a move to lower the cost of borrowing, not because of elevated inflation) along with the many concerns and questions which are still unanswered. You'll find both listeners comments in full linked below.
Links from the episode:
Have any questions or comments? Send us an email at adam@speakingofbitcoin.show
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Today's show featured Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Stephanie Murphy and Adam B. Levine. This episode was edited by Jonas, with music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats.
Our album art is based off a photo by Photo by Wilson Edilberto Santana Suarez on Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin
Has decentralized gaming just created virtual menial labor?
Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Jonathan Mohan and Andreas M. Antonopoulos as they dive into the world of Axie Infinity and the growing global meta economy. Axie Infinity, a Pokémon-esc play-to-earn game on the Ethereum blockchain, has exploded in popularity around the world. The primary user-base has remained grounded in the Philippines as Filipinos from all walks of life buy, borrow, breed, trade and fight in-game NFT characters called “Axies.”
These fighting cartoon pets have earned players legitimate money – in some cases, enough to sway workers to quit their jobs to pursue Axie full-time. The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, especially in places like the Philippines, only make Axie that much more enticing. Individuals and groups with more capital have also snapped on the Axie opportunity in the forms of “scholarships” and lending schemes.
Axie Infinity, and in particular, the lending schemes, prompt a larger conversation about the ethical implications of exporting work and the geographic inequality of opportunities. In the best light, lending within play-to-earn can be seen as providing opportunities with profits orders of magnitudes higher than the local economies could provide. Yet, viewing the practice from a different angle, it can be seen as richer countries farming out low-paying work to individuals who have no better options locally.
Is Axie Infinity a solution or scam? Will the platform maintain its relevance or fizzle out?
See also: Some Filipino Merchants Prefer Payment in Axie’s SLP
This episode featured Adam B. Levine, Andreas M. Antonopoulos and Jonathan Mohan. It was edited by Jonas, our theme song comes courtesy of Jared Rubens and today's music during the break was Delta by Gurty Beats. Today's album art features a photo by Karen Fedida/Unsplash, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin.
Next week we'll share with you our preliminary exploration and implications of the growing Play-to-Earn movement. But no episode today, enjoy your weekend!
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